Jesus our Jubilee

I. Introduction

In the literal sense, Jubilee (YWBL character map) means “ram’s horn” (Hertig 171). It is an occasion that of old was announced throughout the land of Israel by ram’s horn blasts (“Shofar”) once every fifty years; it was heralded in the year after a cycle of seven sabbaths of years had completed (Lev 25:8-10, Fig. 1). The Jubilee was heralded on the tenth day of the Jewish calendar month of Tishri. This day coincides with the Day of Atonement (Lev 23:27-28), which in Hebrew is called yom hakippurim (literally “day of the coverings”).

The Jubilee is a legislation that Jehovah God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai; it was given to a people who were blessed to be the beneficiaries of its gracious God-given particulars—rest, liberation, and restoration. These particulars caused it to become esteemed as ‘The Favorable Year of the LORD’ ( Henry; Isa 61:1-2, cf. Luk 4:16-21; consider Mar 1:14-15), and its announcement to be greatly anticipated and esteemed as ‘The Joyful Sound’ (Henry; Psa 89:15).

Jehovah God is a God of reversals and redistribution; nowhere is this more evident than in His Jubilee Economy (it is evident in Redemption too of course, but Redemption is foreshadowed by Jubilee, as we hope to show along the way). Our God’s Jubilee Economy is set forth in Leviticus chapter twenty-five (Lev 25), where it is probably meant to serve as more than a mere model; as more than an edict for Israel only. A fair part of its focus outlines God’s requirements for humankind’s socioeconomic conduct [1]. At the very heart of Jubilee is our Father’s tender affection for the suffering poor, and the Creation in general. Nay, more: His passionate concern for the plight of humankind impoverished and enslaved by Sin unto multifarious misery. Indeed, Jubilee foreshadows His resolute conviction to redeem His beloved humankind from said poverty and enslavement, and to redeem His good earth from the fallout attending humankind’s Fall.

Jubilee is not an Old Testament memento in that it appears that Jesus’ mission was in no small way a Jubilee mission. His inaugural address at the Nazareth Synagogue clearly foreshadowed this vital aspect of His mission (Luk 4:14-19). This pulpit is interested in discovering the motif of Jubilee in our Lord Jesus’ ministry. Toward that end, these points will be studied:

• The components of Jubilee.

• Jesus’ ministry with respect to the components of Jubilee.

II. The Components of Jubilee

A. Rest

Notice that the Jubilee was announced in the seventh month, the sabbatical month, a month of rest; it was announced on the great Day of Atonement in that month, a sabbath day of total rest (Lev 16:29, 23:27-28).

God’s Jubilee program of rest is threefold, and concerns man, beast, and land. Rest is a blessed thing. We can all appreciate its mental and physical worth firsthand. But beyond its clear utility in serving one’s general mental and physical well-being, it also serves a key role spiritually, for when we are rested we are in a much better frame to commune with God, and this in turn serves our spiritual well-being. We suppose that is one key reason why God was so focused on our being rested mentally and physically—He wanted there to be well-defined, regular periods where our attention could be on Him to the greatest extent possible. He knew therefore that we needed regular periods of rest. During these periods we can come before Him and embrace and love Him in prayer with greater focus. The times of rest that He charged meant that these were periods when one was free from busyness, chore, worry, etc. to better seek Him; to come before Him unencumbered; come before Him in prayer and fellowship, as He desires. The implications of this are tremendous, and bespeak of His keen desire for us to draw intimately near to Him—which means that He stands ever so ready to reciprocate; to fellowship with us. This is why we have come to see His rest charge as a love charge. In all of this Jesus is our Rest, because the rest that Jesus gives is the rest of communion with God, which is consummate rest. He, Jesus, is the way to God (Jhn 14:6), and thus communion with Him.

It is interesting that many passages that stipulate rest for man also stipulate that man be cognizant of the fact that man’s animals, particularly his beasts of burden, also need rest. We must always appreciate that God loves His animals, and He is concerned for their well-being. Toward this good end, God counts on us to treat His animals aright, and He has made it very clear in Scripture how we are to do this.

And the land too; God is also concerned that it have its rest, though here rest serves a more mundane purpose.

1. Unto Man and Beast (every seven days)

From the beginning our God stipulated a sabbath rest for man and beast (Exd 20:8-11; cf. Exd 16:29-30, Exd 23:12), and the year of Jubilee necessarily required the same throughout its weeks. This stipulation is clearly a benevolent charge. As its Designer and Engineer, as its Creator, God knows the stress limits of the human body and mind intimately. He understands fully the highly intricate details that render the same so magnificently functional. When He stipulates a sabbath rest unto man and beast, He does so in the best interest of humankind and his beasts of burden. It appears to be entirely consistent with Jesus’ identification with humankind that He, notwithstanding, the master Worker and Intelligence behind the Creation, would stipulate that we, as did He, observe a sabbath rest (Gen 2:3, Exd 20:9-11). It is to His blessed honor that one does so, for it communicates to Him that one is cognizant of His omniscient design and expert concern for that which He has created. It is very reverent, and shows Him that one is in agreement with Him in the matter; that He knows what is best, thus attesting to the fact that one has comprehended and accepted Him to be one’s loving Creator. Acquiescence here is of course obedience to Him, which signifies one’s love for Him (Jhn 14:15). One might pursue sabbath rest in sundry ways, but always it should have His glory in view. We His stewards are not legalists in the matter, “splitting hairs” so to speak, but are motivated by love for Him; motivated by presenting to Him our personal best stewardship for the work of His hands—which He entrusted into our hands. As His good stewards in this we (as also the animals and His land rightly treated that are entrusted to us) become the beneficiaries of the good that attends His blessed, benevolent rest-charge; indeed, we become beneficiaries of multiplied good, for His omniscient design—our bodies and minds—is then able to operate refreshed at its optimum, to His glory, and for our pleasurable productivity.

The beasts of the world in this early twenty-first century era are less beasts of burden than in the days of Moses, since technological advances have allowed for the use of machinery that can do the job more efficiently in most instances, but there is nonetheless a key thread concerning the animals that is common to both eras—God loves the animals He created (Gen 1:20-25, 1:30, Exd 20:8-10, 23:12, Mat 10:29) and which He, in no small way, placed into our care (Gen 1:26). The animals that we own, for whatever purposes, be they beasts of burden, or livestock for the consumer food market, or simply pets, etc., we are, as best as we can, to care for and love and value as God loves and values them. Nowadays livestock raised for the consumer food market is commercially “farmed” (stall/enclosure raised, antibiotic and growth-hormone injected, with little or no free-ranging opportunity); is in many cases treated as though inanimate, of value only for commercial gain. Yet if God is concerned to the extent even that an animal get a natural sabbath rest, to what extent must Creator Jesus be grieved about the abuse of an animal that goes far beyond violation of His command that it be given a refreshing sabbath rest, to say nothing of the poisons that settle in the cells of the animal as a consequence of this “farming,” which is of course then consumed by human beings, perhaps unawares.

2. Unto the Land (every seventh and fiftieth years)

Every Jubilee year God was concerned that His land have a sabbath year’s rest; an entire year of total rest (Lev 25:11-12), just like He was concerned to give His land an entire year of total rest every seven years otherwise ( Exd 23:10-11). This meant that at Jubilee year junctures the land fully rested for two years in a row (Fig. 1). Here the land was to lie fallow, and any aftergrowth, either in the field, the olive grove, or the vineyard, was to be left for the poor and the beasts of the field. Moreover, the annual labors connected with upkeep of the land were to cease in the sabbatical year, just as daily labors were to cease on the sabbath day (notice His accommodations in lieu of this-Lev 25:18-22, which shows us that God intended that not even worry should sabotage their rest for they had His word that He would labor for them beforehand so they could fully rest; cf. Exd 16:25-30 and the manna). This is a beautiful picture of benevolent care for the land, as also the poor and the beasts of the field. It is a beautiful picture of agrarian efficiency, for the land was allowed to revitalize itself of its depleted nutrients, and it is a beautiful picture of conservation, for nothing was left to waste (cf. Jhn 6:12-13; notice, at least, the consistency in Scripture). In fact, the gleaning of the aftergrowth served to satiate the needs of God’s impoverished people and foraging animals, so we see much more than mere conservation at work, we see the efficiency and goodness of the Creator Jehovah God.

Sadly here again with respect to the land, as above with respect to the animals, we see how far removed from God’s program modern man is. Over-farming of the earth’s lands, over-logging of its trees, and pollutions of all sort in the land, atmosphere, and waterways. This is hardly a picture of rest for His land; quite the opposite. It is the imposition of manifold stresses upon it. We should not be surprised that God announced that when Jesus sets up His kingdom it will be incumbent upon Him to revitalize this earth (2Pe 3:7-13, Rev 21:1), for the current trend has the earth on a trajectory that will render it virtually impotent as concerns its capacity to produce natural, life-supporting food stuffs, and as concerns its capacity to be a safe haven for humankind and many of the life forms with which we share God’s good earth.

B. Liberation and Restoration

Psa 80:14-19, 130:7-8, 146:7, Isa 61:1, Luk 4:16-21

Jubilee occasioned the liberation of slaves, and as a special sabbatical year, the release of debts and mortgages (Lev 25:38-41, 25:42-55, Deu 15:1-3). This meant freedom, and so the restoration of God-given personal human dignity. Every fifty years those Israelites who had become indentured or outright enslaved to another Israelite owing to the vicissitudes of life or for whatever reason/s, were to be set free hands down. Rene Padilla sees this liberation so:

“Israel, the paradigmatic nation, was freed from slavery in Egypt in order to love Yahweh above all else and to practice justice and enjoy the fruit of justice, which is shalom, peace. The laws of Leviticus 25 were oriented toward the structuring of Israel as the people that embodies God’s justice and peace” ( Padilla 17-18).

The Jubilee language of liberation conveys the notion of personal freedom granted under the authority of the Divine Justice, and willing reciprocation by way of extension of justice to others as motivated by the fear of the Lord (Lev 25:14-17, 25:35-37).

Jehovah God made it known that He and He alone was the true owner of the land; the Israelites were “co-settlers” with Him (Lev 25:23). Accordingly, ancestral property was forbidden to be sold in perpetuity, seeing that any such seller did not “possess the deed” so to speak to “his” property to warrant such a far-reaching transaction. To any sale therefore was attached a proviso which granted the “owner/seller” the right to redeem the property so:

(a) Outright by his own means, at any time.

(b) Through a closely-related kinsman redeemer, at any time.

(c) If (a) and (b) were not possible, all sold ancestral property reverted back to the original owner when the Jubilee trumpets blasted, at which time Jehovah, by way of His Divine Justice inherent in the Jubilee, and by His sovereignty, acted as the Redeemer (Lev 25:23-28). Needless to say, such an economy discouraged and squelched empire building; that is, it prevented the accumulation of property wealth, and in an agrarian society as was Israel, one might as well say it largely prevented the outright accumulation of wealth. The Jubilee, then, assured equal access to the fruit of the land in accordance with the way the land was originally divided among the people by Jehovah God. To each was given a parcel, and they could be sure that property remained theirs, irrespective of the adversity that may have necessitated a sale. Their personal freedom (if they sold themselves into slavery) or their land would always be restored to them no longer than fifty years hence.

III. Jesus’ Ministry and Jubilee

A. Rest

Exd 33:14, Isa 11:10, Jer 6:16, Mat 11:28-30, Hbr 4:1-11

Sabbatical rest typifies the rest that Jesus Christ gives (Hbr 4:9-11). It is God’s rest; sabbatical rest is realized as it was intended for man and beast and land only in Jesus Christ, for His rest is precisely benevolent, healing, loving, refreshing, and revitalizing, in much more than the physical sense (Tab. 1). The rest Jesus gives is thoroughgoing physically and spiritually; it is perfectly sufficient for today and for eternity—eternal Jubilee rest comes by way of Jesus. One may freely enter into that rest by repenting of one’s sins and embracing Him as one’s personal Savior. Let us hasten to enter into Jesus’ eternal Jubilee rest. What a beautiful picture of thoroughgoing rest available to any who are ‘weary and heavily burdened.’

B. Liberation and Restoration

Luk 4:18, 7:21-22, 19:10, Act 10:38, Rom 7:23-25, 8:2, 8:18-23, 2Cr 3:13-18, Rev 1:5

It is perhaps the announcement of Jubilee precisely on the great Day of Atonement (Lev 25:9, [2]) that connects Jesus’ ministry with Jubilee most profoundly. The activities of the high priest on that day typify the sacrificial and substitutionary work of our blessed High Priest and sin-Liberator Jesus O so keenly, particularly in the picture of the two unblemished he-goats (unblemished =burnt offering quality [Dyrness 154])—one slain, the other a scapegoat set free bearing and carrying away the sins of the nation unto a desolate place.

On the Day of Atonement it was incumbent on the high priest to make atonement for his sins and those of his household, and for those of the nation of Israel [3]. In the performance of his duties on that day, the high priest was required to lay aside his beautiful and glorious high priestly outer garments (Lev 16:4; consider Phl 2:5-7), and then, outfitted in his (rather ordinary—consider Isa 53:2, Phl 2:7) linen clothing consisting of tunic, undergarments, sash, and turban he performed the tasks of atonement alone (Lev 16:17; consider Psa 22:1, Mat 27:46). First he would slay and offer a bullock (at the brazen altar in the outer courtyard Fig. 2) for his own sins and that of his household (Lev 16:3-6). Lots were cast with respect to the he-goats (Lev 16:8) in order to determine which of the two was to be slain (consider Isa 53:4-5), and which was to be the scapegoat (again consider Isa 53:4-5). Then the high priest presented before God the lot-stricken goat which was to be slain, while the other, the scapegoat, was reserved for a peculiar release (Lev 16:7-10). Concerning this scapegoat, the high priest placed his bloody hands on its head and confessed the nation’s sins before God, thereby effecting a transfer of those sins: They were thus entirely removed from the nation and wholly placed onto the scapegoat, thus releasing/liberating the nation of its sins for the time being (for Sin continued; the Sin transference here was temporal, not eternal; it was imperfect as yet, hence a covering [kippur] only). The scapegoat was released; was led outside the camp and released in a desolate place, the wilderness, and so with it necessarily carried away the sins of the nation unto that desolate place; more on this in a moment.

With God’s help we shall now try to integrate the typical picture and the big picture. Note that Jesus:

(1) Died a vicarious, substitutionary death, like the lot-stricken goat (God’s lot had definitely fallen on our Lord [Hbr 10:5-9, Mat 26:39], and Jesus acquiesced in the matter).

Yet like the scapegoat, Jesus:

(2) Carried away our sins unto a desolate place, thus liberating us of them.

Though there are solid viewpoints that perceive this differently, we suppose, quite literally, that the scapegoat typifies Jesus leading captivity captive, a proclamation of great irony (HCMALWTEUSEN AICMALWSIAN ”captured captivity”- character map; Psa 68:18, Eph 4:8; BLB versions). We mean, Jesus ‘turned the tables’ on Satan so to speak. God is never mocked; though Satan presumed all along to be the captor, Jesus, by His victory at Golgotha, bound up the would be captor, and particularly, Jesus bound up his instrument of battle—Sin—which Sin is the preeminent agent that drives this would-be evil task master’s captivity. Jesus put a hook in Sin’s snout and carried it away captive to a desolate place—therein lies the blessed irony; captivity led away captive. Jesus stripped Satan of his preeminent armament; his big gun, which is Sin, and led it away to a desolate place. Now, quite apart from His capacity as Sovereign, did God legally effect this? That is, did He effect this in concert with His self-proclaimed standards of holiness and righteous justice? Yes, for He, God, Himself paid for Sin’s debt, a debt which God Himself decreed, and which decree Satan presumed to exploit, only to his befuddlement owing to Calvary (Rom 6:23). God is never mocked; not even a little bit. Jesus paid for Sin’s debt at Calvary, thus God had legal right to act here as He pleased. Satan’s attack of our Savior’s lineage across the centuries in effort to prevent our Savior’s appearance makes clear that he Satan knew One was coming who could turn the tables on him, and hallelujah, One did indeed come and do just that. Here is total victory effected by God through Jesus Christ. The two goats may thus represent Redemption (effected at bloody Passover) and Resurrection—that is, Jesus’ role in these (Fig. 3). It remains still to address what, or where, is that desolate place connected with the scapegoat; what is possibly meant by this desolate place to which the typical scapegoat carried away Sin? Reverting to the typical picture as informed by the big picture, we see that the Sin that Jesus both bore, and carried away, as typified by those goats in countless Atonement ceremonies over the centuries, is now in a desolate place; is now nowhere to be found; God has cast it into ”the sea of forgetfulness.” Here follows literally, and in no uncertain terms, pronouncement of Satan’s disarmament, even a priori in some instances: Psa 103:12 ; Isa 38:17, 55:6-7 ; Jer 31:34, 50:20 ; Eze 16:63 ; Neh 9:17 ; Mat 26:28 ; Luk 11:4-note the Jubilee-type reciprocation here ; Eph 1:7, Eph 4:32-again, Jubilee-type reciprocation. God has legal right to do this since Sin has been paid for in satisfaction of His decree. This leads us to the conclusion that the salvific work of God through Jesus must surely be represented by both of the goats God here portrays to us; the two show the whole picture of the Redemption -Resurrection couplet, a couplet that should never be severed (“A Letter of Invitation”). The Redemption-Resurrection couplet stands as an eternal monument to God’s total victory over Satan, and thus our total victory over Sin in solidarity with God. With Sin thus removed, holiness may abound, and thus eternal life in the presence of Jehovah God may flourish: Not only is Satan defeated precisely as pronounced (Gen 3:15), but God’s original plans for humankind are now back on track again. This is a picture of complete victory. God is never mocked, not even a little bit.

Finally, as concerns this section, once Sin is atoned for, liberation may follow, and once liberation from the entanglements of Sin is in force, restoration (holy growth) may then follow (Tab. 2). We owe our liberation from Sin, and restoration unto intended holiness (“Be Holy”), entirely to our great savior God. We owe all to Jesus our Jubilee.

IV. Concluding Comments

This study was motivated in part by a desire to look deeper at the correlation in Scripture between Isa 61:1-3 and Luk 4:16-21, particularly a key point of intersection between these verses, namely the term ‘the favorable year of the LORD,’ which term of course signifies the year of Jubilee in one sense (yet consider Mar 1:14-15). It was reckoned based on this intersection that here might be important connections to be understood between Jubilee as outlined by Jehovah God and conveyed by Old Testament Scripture, and the ministry of Jesus Christ. We definitely engaged the study with an a priori interest in discovering the motif of Jubilee in Jesus’ ministry, notwithstanding, we did not have to work hard to find the same. We approached the study by breaking Jubilee into its salient components and then looked for these components in the ministry of Jesus.

We said that Jubilee has in part a socioeconomic thrust. Moreover, it was said that though Jubilee was specifically given to Israel, and intended for them, as God’s mouthpiece their implementation of Jubilee should have served to communicate Jubilee to humankind per se, thus Jubilee is properly a global, not a local, God-given socioeconomic standard.

A key point of observation in this study concerns God’s “sabbath-cycles.” We possibly see here, at least, that the Creator/Engineer’s estimation of efficacious scheduling for man, beast, and earth (biological, fecundity, etc.) concerns cycles of sevens and fifties, particularly when considered in conjunction with His sabbatical seven day cycle (the standard week that day by day marks all our activities). In a slightly different sense note also the seven day creation week; consider the agency of the blessed Holy Spirit in creation (Gen 1:1-2) over against the Pentecost Weeks (Fig. 3); note again the Jubilee cycles (Fig. 1). In general, God’s ultimate motivation clearly concerns our sanctification in His imposition of the particulars attending these cycles of course—Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mat 12:8), and as such He teaches and guides us all along the way here (notice that all the “sabbath-cycles” put forth are a function of “Sabbath chronology/logic”). The Lord of the Sabbath Jesus necessarily gives meaning to these cycles; He explicates them aright (aright= unto Christ-likeness concerning treatment of others and self, beast, earth; fear of God). Thus we must stay focused on Jesus foremost, Himself the Intelligence assigning and establishing these cycles.

The Jubilee components put forth were rest, liberation, and restoration; these are Jubilee operatives. It was said that Jubilee rest concerned humankind, God’s animals—particularly man’s beasts of burden—and land. As concerns humankind, it was said that one might pursue (sabbath) rest in various ways, but however done it should always have God’s glory in view. We said that we are not legalists in this, but rather are motivated by love for God; motivated by presenting to Him our personal best stewardship for the work of His hands—our minds and bodies.

It was said that beyond its clear utility in serving one’s general mental and physical well-being, rest also serves a key role spiritually, namely, when we are rested we are in a much better condition to commune with God, which in turn serves our spiritual well-being. As said, we suppose that is one key reason why God was so focused on our being rested mentally and physically—He wanted there to be well-defined, regular periods where our attention could be on Him to the greatest extent possible.

The beasts of the world today are less beasts of burden than in the days of Moses, even so, now, as then, God loves the animals He created. The animals that we own we are, as best as we can, to care for and love and value as God loves and values them. As said in the main text, it is sad that God’s animals are so poorly treated in this modern age, particularly the various sorts of livestock. As the hungry mouths of the world proliferate in lockstep with an ever-burgeoning world population, this situation will probably not change, given the focus on meeting that demand with animal-farming-type commercial interests.

Every Jubilee year God required that His land have a sabbath year’s rest; an entire year of total rest, just as He required that His land have an entire year of total rest every seven years otherwise. Here the land was to lie fallow, and any aftergrowth, either in the field, the olive grove, or the vineyard, was to be left for the poor and the beasts of the field. Moreover, the annual labors connected with upkeep of the land were to cease in the sabbatical year, just as daily labors were to cease on the sabbath day. Again, it is sad that over-farming of the earth’s lands, over-logging of its trees, and pollutions of all sort in the land, atmosphere, and waterways, have imposed manifold stresses upon God’s earth; what we see today is hardly a picture of Jubilee rest for God’s good lands. As said, we should not be surprised that God announced that when Jesus sets up His kingdom it will be incumbent upon Him to revitalize His earth.

It was pointed out that Jubilee occasioned the liberation of slaves and the release of debts and mortgages. The key justification put forth for this radical release was the incontestable adjudication of the Divine Justice, as tempered by the sovereign might of Jehovah God. Importantly, inherent in this release, and presupposed by the Divine Justice, is God’s requirement that its beneficiaries reciprocate by way of extension of justice to others, as motivated by the fear of the Lord.

In that God had made it clear that He alone was the owner of the land, ancestral property was forbidden to be sold in perpetuity; an owner/seller of ancestral property had the right to redeem their property either outright by their own means at any time, or through a closely-related kinsman redeemer at any time; if neither of these options were possible, all sold ancestral property was restored to the original owner at the time of Jubilee, in which case God Himself was understood to be the kinsman Redeemer. In short, irrespective of the adversity that may have necessitated a sale, personal freedom, or personal property, was always restored to an Israelite at Jubilee year junctures.

Given this understanding of Jubilee and its components, we turned next to the ministry of Jesus Christ and considered it in light of Jubilee. Beginning with the Jubilee operative of rest, we noted that sabbatical rest typifies the rest that Jesus Christ gives because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and Sabbath is the primitive and quintessential definition and expression of rest; all notions of sabbatical rest find their essence in God’s Sabbath. God’s entire program of rest is centered on His intentions concerning the Sabbath. Jubilee rest is thus clearly fundamental to the ministry of Jesus Christ in that He claims to be its Lord. With this claim He claims to be Sabbath’s creator and master; there can be no more intimate connection than that. The Jubilee-rest motif may be said to be integral to the ministry of Jesus Christ.

In turning to the Jubilee operatives of liberation and restoration over against Jesus’ ministry, the activities surrounding the great Day of Atonement were thought to connect Jesus’ ministry to Jubilee most profoundly; a key connection in this regard is that Jubilee was heralded precisely on the Day of Atonement. Additionally, the picture and role of the unblemished he-goats, which goats together were thought to typify Jesus Christ’s role in Redemption and Resurrection, are perhaps the key connective between Jubilee liberation and restoration and Jesus’ ministry of liberation and restoration. In constructing a salvific picture guided by a typical one in which the he-goats were central, we concluded that the salvific work of God through Jesus had been foreshadowed for centuries by way of the roles of these goats; indeed we suppose it had been foreshadowed unmistakeably so given a post-Cross vantage point. It was said that the goats were thought to show the whole picture of the Redemption-Resurrection couplet, a couplet that not only stands, precisely owing to the work of Jesus, but which summarizes the whole purpose of Scripture, which purpose can be proven to pivot on Jesus Christ.

We conclude that there is an extremely high degree of correlation between the Old Testament expression of Jubilee, and the manifest purpose of God expressed in the ministry of Jesus Christ, owing to the pervasiveness of the salient motifs of Jubilee in Jesus’ ministry.

A final thought concerning that blessed word “Jubilee.” Jubilee is a joyful word. The sound of it in one’s ears evinces the anticipation of a golden, joyful celebration. The psalmist calls Jubilee “the Joyful Sound.” Indeed, he is right, because the joyful sound he heard prophetically was in fact the good news of the Gospel (Rom 10:11-15). It was in fact the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is precisely Rest, Liberation, and Restoration. Taken in the aggregate, rest, liberation, and restoration come together to bespeak of a state of being. They come together as a joyful state of being, a Jubilee—here is the Promise of Salvation. Here is life eternal in the presence of Jehovah God. What a joyful sound that is! One can hardly wait to get on with it…

Praised be your Name Jubilee Jesus. Thank you for making a way.